Good interview with AJ re the future

[TitoFan]

Damn... hour-long interviews are tough to sit through (unless you're one of the two principals ). In any case, I "speed-watched" it to some extent, trying to get the main gist.

These should come accompanied with "table of contents", where you can just drop in on the topic you're interested in.

In any case, my impressions of AJ have always been the same. An intelligent and likable enough fellow... who might care a bit too much about what others around him have to say. At some point you just have to be your own man and to hell with what everybody else thinks of you.

At some point I'll probably give it another "speed-watch", but it seems he still falls into the trap of giving excuses for losses... just like what he mentions about Wilder-Fury II. Specifically about the Ruiz loss, where he says did you see my ring walk. In the end they all do it. There's yet to be a fighter that says hey I lost because he was just the better man that night. I'm sure there are, but probably not when the lights are shining the brightest and egos have been bruised.

The big picture of the interview is that it humanizes AJ in the eyes of those who see the interview. Like he said... much of the impressions about AJ (as with other fighters) are formed by what others say to the press. In the absence of the fighter himself doing the talking, others are only too willing to do it for them.

I don't think AJ's done. Yes... he'd 99% likely lose to Fury... and I'd put him at less than 50/50 to beat Wilder. But he's got some boxing left in him. Whether or not he can beat Usyk in the rematch remains to be seen. He and others can point to AJ-Ruiz II as proof of Joshua's adaptability. But in all fairness that second fight was as much Ruiz dropping the ball big time, as it was AJ "adapting" to be able to beat him the 2nd time around.

But again... maybe some shorter clips of interviews would get more views.

[Mark TKO]

You asking me to do shorter clips ? Am I a video editor ?!

What you make of the strange last 2 minutes where he obviously reads from a scripted speech then Kugan asks him if he's ok and he's silent.

[TitoFan]

Nah, bro. Just thought maybe they had more bite-size bits available. Interesting interview to be sure... just no one has time to sit through one hour of AJ talking.


The last 2 minutes were definitely strange. Looked and sounded like he was in a trance. Oh well... hard to get through a solid hour of Q&A without engaging in some weirdness.

[Mark TKO]

my opinion is that he just doesn't believe in himself. Didn't convince me once he believes he can do it.

That's where Fury comes into his own

[TitoFan]

Well... the Ruiz loss likely damaged him more than he lets on. He probably saw Ruiz pre-fight and said "How in the world would I lose to that?"

[Kirkland Laing]

It would be better if there was video transcript software that could produce a transcript with a couple of clicks. You can read an hour long interview or speech in a couple of minutes that way.

After reading the thread I had to watch the last few minutes. He came over like an immature teenager. Not impressive to say the least.

[mikeeod]

AJ is a likable guy and great athlete, I just don’t think he is a fighter. Fury is a fighter- he has that mentality. Usyk is also, in his own way, as is Wilder. I don’t see AJ beating any of those three, unless he lands that perfect punch (that is almost any fight though). I would be most interested in watching him fight Wilder at this point.